Atom Smasher Yields Further Clues in God Particle Search

March 7 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. scientists found evidence of
the existence of a particle that in theory allows other
particles to have mass, a discovery that brings researchers
closer to understanding the beginning of the universe.

Two independent experiments showed hints of the Higgs boson
particle, the Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator
Laboratory said today in a statement on its website. The clues
aren’t strong enough to declare the so-called God particle
cornered, the laboratory said.

Finding the Higgs boson, named after U.K. physicist Peter
Higgs, could be a gateway to discovering new physics, such as
superparticles or dark matter, part of the universe’s building
material that went missing at the beginning of time. Dark matter
makes up about 23 percent of the universe. Such research could
help scientists gain a better understanding of the universe and
how galaxies hold together.

“The end game is approaching in the hunt for the Higgs
boson,” Jim Siegrist, the energy department’s associate
director of science for high energy physics, said in the
statement. The findings demonstrate “the continuing importance
of independent measurements in the quest to understand the
building blocks of nature.”

Researchers at the European Organization for Nuclear
Research, also known as CERN, said in December they have
narrowed the range where the so-called God particle may be
found. While the experiments provided “tantalizing hints” of
the particle, the scientists said it’s still too early to say
whether the Higgs boson exists, and that further research was
needed.

More Data Needed

“It’s great to see that all the signs are beginning to
line up,” James Gillies, a spokesman for Geneva-based CERN,
said by phone today. “It’s all very exciting, it’s all very
intriguing, but we need to be cautious. We need more data.”

Higgs boson particles, if they exist, have short lifespans
and can decay into different combinations of particles,
according to the Fermi laboratory, in Batavia, Illinois.
Discovering the Higgs boson requires scientists to observe a
significant excess of the particles it decays into, and those
particles must have properties that would allow for the mass of
the Higgs boson to be reconstructed, Fermilab said.

To that end, scientists in the U.S. and Europe are using
machines to smash beams of atomic particles and record the
resulting collisions. The researchers have been creating
conditions as close as possible to the so-called Big Bang that
formed the universe 13.7 billion years ago.

In Range

The Fermi scientists found excesses in their measurements
that may have come from a Higgs boson with a mass of about 115
to 135 gigaelectronvolts of energy. The CERN researchers said in
December that the Higgs boson most likely has a mass of 116 to
130 gigaelectronvolts or between 115 and 127 gigaelectronvolts.
Independent measurements point to a range of 124 to 126
gigaelectronvolts, the European researchers said at the time.

If the researchers don’t find the particle by the end of
2012, they will exclude its existence, Rolf-Dieter Heuer,
director-general of CERN, told reporters in Geneva in October.
Failing to find the Higgs boson would lend credibility to
alternative theories that explain the mechanism that allows
particles to have mass.